German dream dashed by superb Italians

World Cup is almost at its end now. We have seen the first semi final between hosts Germany and Italy and later today France will take on Portugal.

Now, to the first semis - Italy and Germany most probably played one of the best games in the World Cup. It was an end-to-end action with both teams showing their propensity to attack throughout the normal time and the extra period. I thought the Italians were a shade better and justified that by two glorious goals in the final minutes of extra time to step into the finals on Sunday.

However when the match started, most of us thought there had to be a winner at the end of the extra period. Otherwise the Germans, known for their penalty skills, would have walked through the shoot-outs with such ease.The first 15 minutes of the match indicated as much – that this was heading towards penalty kicks.

But to the credit of both teams, we had a steady supply of attacking football and clever defending. And again, when the extra period started, both teams came out firing on all cylinders, trying to score that single goal which would be enough.

Now to the goals by the Italians – and what beautiful goals they were. The first came in the 119th minute as a result of an excellent through pass from Andrea Pirlo, who after collecting the ball from a corner waited and waited at the edge of the Germany penalty box to find a free Fabio Grosso. The defender then lashed an unbelievable, curling left-footed shot beyond Jan Lehmann's outstretched finger-tips into the far corner.

And just under a minute later, following a barrage of German attack, the impressive Fabio Cannavaro ran outside of his D-box with the ball, and then leaving Alberto Gilardino to take the ball to the edge of the German penalty area.

Gilardino kept his composure, took his time and rolled the ball to Alessandro Del Piero who ran the entire length of the pitch to finish off the Germans with a clinical finish into the roof of the net.

And that broke the German hearts, but what a game! The Germans exceeded everyone’s expectations by coming thus far and they have had a good tournament. Full credit must go the their coach Jurgen Klinsmann for bringing a bunch of young players and motivating them to play such attacking football.

p/s: Read the full version of this entry in my World Cup blog.
And to read my World Cup blog, go here.